Category Archives: West Loop

Leopardo, Michels have begun caisson work at 210 North Carpenter

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210 North Carpenter caisson work

Leopardo and Michels have begun drilling and filling caissons at 210 North Carpenter.

They’re digging holes and filling them with concrete at 210 North Carpenter, the 12-story, 200,000-square-foot office building from Sterling Bay. Crews from general contractor (and future tenant) Leopardo Companies and Michels Corporation are sending caissons into the West Loop soil for what’s been dubbed the “McDonald’s Vendor Village” along the 1000-block of West Lake Street.

210 North Carpenter caisson work

Sterling Bay rendering of 210 North Carpenter.

Crain’s had the announcement last month that Leopardo had signed on the be the first 210 North Carpenter tenant, turning construction into a quasi-D.I.Y. project, if you will. Leopardo’s corporate offices are in Hoffman Estates, and will remain there, but the Chicago staff will relocate from 333 West Wacker Drive when the new space is completed in 2018.

By the way, we tweeted to Adjustable Forms last month about their involvement as the masonry contractor, and they confirmed our suspicion that 210 North Carpenter *will* require a tower crane. Everyone wins.

With caissons wrapped up, 808 West Van Buren scores a tower crane permit

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808 West Van Buren

808 West Van Buren received a tower crane permit Wednesday.

The hideous garbage hole that used to occupy the Greektown corner of Halsted and Van Buren will soon be beautified by a tower crane.

808 West Van Buren, the bKL Architecture-designed 12-story apartment building from Loukas Development, has a clean slate of smooth dirt now that all the caissons have been dug. A few remained to be filled along the north end of the lot Tuesday, but those are probably done by now. The next step for Lendlease is to get that new tower crane in the air and send the 148-unit tower skyward.

Power Construction plants a tower crane at 900 West

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900 West Tower Crane Stub

Is that what I think it is, peeking over the construction fence? Yep. 900 West has a tower crane stub.

Not all of the tower crane news coming out of the West Loop is bad.

A tower crane stub has been planted at 900 West Washington Boulevard, the site of 900 West. You may recall our mid-August visit when we stopped by to check on Caisson work. At the time, Power Construction had just received the full-build permit from the City of Chicago to erect the entire 10-story, 22-unit condominium project from Taris Real Estate.

One week later, on August 24, another permit came through, this time for the tower crane. Now, we don’t know exactly when the stub was planted (August 26 was the most recent day we’ve walked by until now) but lo and behold, there was the fresh stub on Tuesday. So, expect Power to send 900 West rocketing skyward now that they’ve got the heavy lifting covered.

Ordering two McDonald’s tower cranes to go

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McDonald's Headquarters tower crane removal

A yellow street crane waits at the foot of East Crane, ready to bring her down.

Strong Chicago breezes kept Tuesday from being a sad day in the West Loop, but once those winds calm down, the two tower cranes at the McDonald’s Headquarters will be removed.

The Yellow Street Crane Of Doom was on-hand Tuesday, but couldn’t get started on East Crane because of conditions. Wednesday calls for lighter winds, so there’s a good chance crane removal will begin.

Both cranes were erected on the McDonald’s site back in February within a couple days of each other. McHugh Construction was said to be utilizing the top-down method, which allows the frame of the building to go up faster than normal. According to a story by Curbed at ground-breaking time, that shaved off about four months from the construction schedule. Now, a little over six months after the cranes went up, they’ve completed their duty, and it’s time for them to move on.

 

McDonald's Headquarters tower crane removal

The Stars & Stripes, and the Stars, fly just below the criss-crossing tower cranes at the McDonald’s HQ. Tuesday, September 5, 2017.

McDonald's Headquarters tower crane removal

More tower cranes, more patriotism.

 

A mini Hayden West Loop completes construction

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Hayden West Loop

There’s a sexy model on display at the Hayden West Loop.

On the 8th of this month, the City of Chicago issued a foundation permit for the Hayden West Loop, a nine-story, 28-unit condominium building at 1115 West Washington Boulevard in the West Loop. (I bet you’d already figured out the “West Loop” part, but I included it anyway. Clarity.) While the site, formerly part of the Harpo Studios campus, has been leveled in preparation for construction, we’re still waiting on work to begin.

However, what The Hayden has begun is a new sales office around the corner on May Street, featuring a model of the finished Booth Hansen project, complete with folks relaxing on their seventh-floor terrace. Proving, once again, that architectural models are cool, even when they aren’t skyscrapers.

**DISCLAIMER: Photos of the architectural model were taken, and are being used, with the permission of the staff at the sales center.

 

So this is what One South Halsted looks like from the ground

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727 West Madison

727 West Madison, seen here from a *bit* of elevation, is starting to grow in the West Loop.

There are two things we need to get used to about One South Halsted around the B.U.C. South Loop Bureau. First, we no longer have our stellar overhead perspective of the 44-story apartment tower from Fifield Companies and F&F Realty. And second, it looks like we’ll need to stop using One South Halsted as a moniker, as it appears 727 West Madison is not only the address, but the name, of the project. No one asked us, but the extra syllables from that pair of 7s just don’t flow well as when you have a one-word number in the there. “One” plays. “One” works. Oh well. We’ll adjust.

727 West Madison

A June view of 727 West Madison from the original B.U.C. HQ. #neverforget

We took a walk around One Sou— ugh, See? There I go again — 727 West Madison last week to check on Lendlease’s progress, and the curvyness of the tower’s elliptical shape is coming into view. The tower itself is heading toward the sixth floor, while the podium is up and off the ground as well.

If you’ve gotten the feeling that curved shape is becoming a trend along the West Loop section of the Kennedy Expressway, you’re on to something. 727 West Madison joins The Parker Fulton Market in adding some rounded lines to all the right angles in the neighborhood. A brief conversation with Steve McFadden at design firm FitzGerald reveals he went with the elliptical shape to allow extra interior space within the units along those long east and west facings. Little known fact: There was to be a circular ramp leading in and out of the parking podium in the original plans (one of which went to City Council way back in October of 2012; 727 West Madison has been in the works for quite some time!) but that was rejected in favor of an easier-to-maneuver straight ramp.

808 West Van Buren digs in to Greektown

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808 West Van Buren

Revcon moves caisson equipment around the lot at 808 West Van Buren in the West Loop’s Greektown sub-neighborhood.

The unsightly pit formerly known as a Greektown garbage dump has come alive with caisson work, as Revcon and Lendlease set about laying the foundation for 808 West Van Buren. bKL Architecture has designed a 12-story, 148-unit residential building here for Loukas Development that the City of Chicago permitted back in April. Also included will be 65 parking spots and some ground-level retail space.

Maybe some of that space will be a new bakery, to replace the beloved Pan Hellenic Pastry Shop, which closed earlier this summer. The website says “New Location To Be Announced” so, fingers crossed!

900 West digs in, and scores another permit

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900 West

Stalworth Underground drills caisson at 900 West in the West Loop.

900 West, the 10-story, 22-unit condominium building coming to the West Loop from Taris Real Estate, has permission to go vertical, after receiving its full-build permit Wednesday from the City of Chicago. (They thought they could trick me by using 904 West Washington Blvd as the address, but I catch on quick.)

In the meantime, Stalworth Underground continues to rip holes in the earth and then fill said holes with concrete. Then once they’re done with caissons, Power Construction will start bringing the Northworks Architects + Planners design to life, with the goal of a Summer 2018 opening.

And yes, Power Construction assures us there *will* be a tower crane at 900 West.

Sterling Bay gets a permit for offices at 210 North Carpenter

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210 North Carpenter permit

Behold, the almighty Foundation Permit, issued Monday for 210 North Carpenter.

Monday, the City of Chicago issued a foundation permit for the parking lot at 210 North Carpenter Street in the West Loop, allowing Sterling Bay to begin construction on a new 12-story, 200,000-square-foot office building. 210 North Carpenter is a design from Solomon Cordwell Buenz, and will also bring 12,000 square feet of retail space to the scorching-hot West Loop/Fulton Market area.

Leopardo Companies is the general contractor. (They’re putting the finishing touches on Fulton West just a couple blocks from 210 North Carpenter.) Adjustable Forms will be the masonry contractor.

At 12 stories, we smell a new tower crane for the West Loop!

It’s a tower-crane wash, as Chicago puts one up (Nobu Hotel) and takes one down (Solstice On The Park)

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Nobu Hotel Chicago tower crane

Say hello to the tower crane at the Nobu Hotel Chicago…

For a brief moment, while it was still dark Monday morning, Chicago had 31 tower cranes in operation across the city.

Centaur Construction completed assembly of their tower crane at the Nobu Hotel Chicago site over the weekend. But word came from a Little Birdie Friend last week that today would be the beginning of the end for the tower crane at Solstice On The Park, as Linn-Mathes and Adjustable Forms begin taking theirs down from the Hyde Park skyline.

So if you’re doing the math at home, this equation’s pretty simple: 30 + 1 – 1 = 30.

Solstice On The Park tower crane

…And say goodbye to the tower crane at Solstice On The Park, as it comes down this week.